Every week you probably encounter car drivers and van drivers who show little consideration for other people using the road, however section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 makes it a criminal offence to drive a car or van on a road without reasonable consideration for other road users.

A large number of road accidents and car crashes that happen every day would be avoided if drivers remembered the Highway Code that they learned whilst they were practicing to drive before taking the driving test. It often appears that drivers forget the Highway Code as soon as they have passed the driving test and received their driving licence.

Paragraph 146 of the Highway Code states that car drivers should adapt their driving to the appropriate type and condition of road they are on, and that speed limits should not be treated as targets.A�The Highway Code specifically states that often the speed limit for a road is not a safe speed, for instance because of parked cars and the risk of people walking into the road.

Section 34 of the Road Traffic Act makes it an offence to drive a car or van over a pavement or footpath.A�It is common sense that cars and vans should not be driven on pavements, however you often see drivers doing this, for instance, outside shops and newsagents.

Everyone agrees that there are too many car accidents and unfortunately people being killed and injured as a consequence of drivers making basic mistakes whilst driving.A� A high number of accidents would be prevented if drivers exercised more patience, paid attention to what they were doing, only carried manoeuvers when it was safe to do so, gave clear signals in plenty of time before beginning a manoeuver and were careful and considerate to all other road users.

A company is required by the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 to carry out an assessment of whether protective clothing should be provided to employees who are exposed to risks to their safety at work.

This is an important reason why high visibility (hi-vis) vests and jackets are now seen everywhere, from supermarket car parks to construction sites.A�Hi-vis vests and jackets are protective clothing that employers must supply to their workers in accordance with the safety regulations.

The safety regulations concerning protective clothing apply to all workplaces and it depends on the risks to the health and safety of the people working in that particular workplace the type of protective clothing and personal protective equipment that the company must provide its workers.A�The protective clothing should be provided free of charge and employees should not be asked to pay for the protective clothing that they need.A�The protective clothing required to keep workers safe may include protective gloves, safety shoes, aprons, earplugs, protective sleeves, hard hats, and safety glasses or goggles.

Every year people are killed in accidents at work caused by moving vehicles and heavy plant and machinery. Hi-vis clothing helps to prevent these types of accidents happening because they help the worker stand out and be conspicuous to the driver of a vehicle who may have only poor visibility due to the weather or it being after dark.

The safety regulations only apply to employees and there have been proposals by safety groups that hi-vis vests or clothing should be worn by motorbikers and cyclists during the hours of darkness to reduce the number of road accidents caused by car drivers failing to see bikers and cyclists.A�However, these safety proposals have been countered by arguments that the important issues are the attitudes and awareness of some car drivers in preventing accidents caused by car drivers failing to see bikers and cyclists; and that if car drivers paid more attention to other road users and reduced their speed, this would be more important in bringing down the high number of accidents suffered by motorcyclists.